Dreams of More
by saint ignatious
Summary: the off screen transformation of robin into nightwing. this is a rough draft of a story i have been working on for a long time, or at least a chapter in the middle of it. its not finished and i truly envisioned this more as a comic then as prose but i have been sitting on this for a while now.


AN: the - denotes action or what should be taking place on the panel, while the "..." should denote the text, in this case narration boxes. some day i will finish this as a comic or at the very least flesh it out as a story .

the story takes place in an alternate time line of the batman animated series. for reference all of the batman animated series and the new adventures of batman and robin are taken into consideration as well as select moments from batman beyond. the justice league and other DC AU cannon are ignore with the exceptions of those stated in the specific chapters when i get to them. thank you for reading

on to the story

-Barbara leaning over batman laughing. halos of the pale blue computer screen silhouette them

"you know in dreams when you fall, when you see yourself falling and you don't know what to do, then you wake up before you hit. raised as an acrobat and living so long without fear, when i dream i always fall. when i fall i don't wake up"

-robin looks on for a moment, Barbara seems so far away when shes with the old man. neither of them acknowledge robin entering

"it starts again. i have been fighting with Barbara more often then not, the same old fight again and again. i need to get out of the cave."

-robin walking to cave exit with batman and Barbara behind him. riding his motorcycle out of Gotham, the red skies burning in the distance

"i leave the city, leave his territory."

-man darts in front of robin's motorcycle, Zatanna quickly behind

"it was the first time i had met Satan, i had heard of her father before, Bruce had mentioned him in passing and from one stage act to another his reputation had been whispered around the circus since i was a kid."

-catching up with them robin finds Zatanna has the situation handled, the crook floating by her command

"i tagged along for a few days, her father went missing again and a tip brought her to blud haven."

-time passing as robin and Zatanna track down more leads

"she was fun. she laughed and smiled and made me happy. when we were fighting crime it was easy, when we were staking out it was easy. for the first time in a long time i was happy."

-the two of them sit on a rooftop overlooking the sunset, snow is falling and robin removes his cape and throws it around her to keep her warm

"i was outgrowing Gotham, she helped me see that"

-Zatanna wraps her arm around robin and kisses him

"it was easy to fall for her, and it was the best i had felt since me and Barbara..."

-close up on dick looking unsure, no mask.

"i still love her... Barbara i mean... i just needed a break."

-Zatanna handing dick a new mask, completing a nightwing costume.

"the best months of my life..."

-panel of black

"but then we got sloppy"

-shot of nightwing from behind with two figures on the edge of the roof. a shot of Zatanna being held over a construction yard ledge by mod leader, tape over her mouth.

"like i said i always fall"

-Zatanna is thrown over the scaffolding and night wing dives after her. he fires a line behind himself and barrels after her arm outstretched

"i wont catch her. I'm not going fast enough. i know i cant"

-robin jerks to a halt at the end of his line

"i always fall"

-Zatanna gasping, rebar protruding through her chest. she reaches for night wing as he drops to her side. he holds her head and reassures her. tears run down her face

"she cried my name... my real name. she begged for help"

-robin calling on his communicator

"we were 10 minuets from help and she was losing a lot of blood."

-Zatanna puts an arm on robins shoulder, night wing looks her in the eye. tears well up behind his mask.

-he removes his mask

"she asks me to kiss her and i do."

-as they kiss she reaches her arm around his head pulling him deeper into the kiss.

"i always fall. and long after i fall i still don't wakeup."

-Zatanna coughs violently, strings of blood connect them as the kiss breaks. he holds her now unmoving body, snow falling around them.

"i hear sirens in the distance, but they are already too late"

-dick Grayson gasps awake in his living room. the room bathed in the blue static from his TV, sirens blare in the distance.

"all these years later and i still cant shake the dreams."

-dick rubs his forehead and takes an aspirin from a bottle on the table. he throws the pill back and dry swallows.

"its enough to drive a man mad"

-he walks across the room and pulls back the floor length blinds and looks out, the bat signal looms uncomfortable in the clouds above the wrong city.

"the old man pays me a visit... or maybe its his new project"

-dick digs out his old night wing costume. buried in a closet, damaged from years of fighting, dusty from years of neglect. night wing puts on his old mask

"either way, i should say hello"


End file.
